How to write an abstract

How to write an abstract Dr. Steve Wallace

The problem with motivation as a researcher • Why computer games? - Tell our own story - 1) motivation - 2) clear mission - 3) try different ways to succeed - 4) quantified success - 5) make a difference in my online world • Highly effective researchers stay motivated • We need excitement and purpose in our research

Writing research is telling our own story Research is interesting for the same reasons Research can “tell our story” - motivation ( background ) - mission (objective) - try different ways to succeed (methods) - quantified success (results) - impact (implications or discussion) We must find motivation in our research

Abstract Elements Mirror the Paper 1) Reason for writing: Motivation Why should we be interested? 2) Problem: Clear mission What problem do we attempt to solve? 3) Methodology: Ways to succeed What approach do we use to solve the problem? 4) Results: Quantify progress What happened? 5) Implications: Making a difference in the world How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

Simpler abstract structure • 6 questions • Why this study? • What did you investigate? • What did you do? • What did you find out? • What do your results mean? • So what?

Heroes vs. Researchers • Both are judged by their problems • Both use methods to achieve their results

Stories vs. Research • Both must be interesting or they won’t be retold or cited • Interesting = help solve a problem • Both must be well told • - Sometimes the way we tell the story is more important than the story itself

Reasons for major revision or rejection of Taiwanese journal papers

Why is an abstract important? • Used for conferences and papers • Published in computerized databases and printed indexes abstracts for scholars • Often you are cited based only on abstract • Indicative and informative and descriptive • We will discuss the structured informative

Purpose of the abstract • Like a movie preview -15 seconds • Unlike a movie preview it should be able to stand alone and be read as a separate unit

Choose an interesting title If the title is boring, readers will avoid your paper. Your paper won't be cited. • Never try to put all the content of your paper in the title. • One line is best. Never use more than two lines. • Avoid starting with "On the...". It implies that the paper is a note.

The Title • Informative title = the key concept, the device or group studied and your argument. • Title and subtitle separated by a colon is often a good way to maximize information • Choose a title after writing the abstract

Titles • A good title should contain the fewest possible words that describe the contents of a paper • Convey the main findings of the research • Be specific and concise without focusing on only part of the content • Avoid jargon, non-standard abbreviations and unnecessary detail • Comply with word limits • Some journals also require a shorter ‘running’ title

Titles • Poor title: • Mouse Behavior • A better title would be: • The Effects of Estrogen on the Nose-Twitch Courtship Behavior in Mice • Why? Because the key words identify a specific behavior, a modifying agent, and the experimental organism. • Or give the result • Estrogen Stimulates Intensity of Nose-Twitch Courtship Behavior in Mice

1) Motivation • Why did you study the problem? • We need a “why” before we care about “how” • Why do you want to kill the monster? • Don’t assume people know

Context and background History of the problem ( A long, long, time ago, in a land far, far, away…) • We mention other heroes or researchers who have fought similar problems with similar weapons

Example of motivation in an abstract • “Previous research on GPS calibration focused mainly on the methods of integrating costly auxiliary hardware, ignoring the user’s context information and basic demands.”

Example of Motivation • “Research reported by Daly, Miller, and their colleagues suggests that writing apprehension is related to a number of factors we do not yet fully understand.”

Example of Motivation • With a listening typewriter, what an author says would be automatically recognized and displayed in front of him or her. However, speech recognition is not yet advanced enough to provide people with a reliable listening typewriter.

Problem statement or Objective Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What does the monster look like? Are you trying to kill it?

Solutions and problems • Don’t think your reader will know what your problem is • If we don’t know where we are going we can’t get there and there is no way to evaluate success

Problem statement or Objective • Our “mission” in a computer game and research uses a “to” statement • “to save the princess” • “to kill the monsters” • “to obtain the treasure”

Example abstract problem statement • This paper presents an approach for calibrating GPS position by using the context awareness technique from Pervasive Computing. The paper proposes a novel approach, called Perceptive GPS (PGPS) to improve GPS positioning accuracydirectly from the contextual information of received GPS data.

Example abstract problem statement • The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals. The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holesin 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes.

Objective • An aim of our experiments was to determine if an imperfect listening typewriter would be useful for composing letters.

Methodology: • Methodology:What did you do? • An abstract may include specific models or approaches. • How did you kill the monster?

Methods • What weapon did we use to kill our monster? • A sword? Shield? Spear? Or something novel? • If the method is commonlyknown in our field we don’t need detail • If it is novel we need to define it so following heroes can imitate our method

Sample abstract - methodology • To utilize the characteristics of GPS sequential and temporal data, PGPS starts by sampling received GPS data and builds a stable Transition Probability Matrix (TPM), based on a derived Newton Markov Model (NMM), to learn the carrier’s behavior.

Sample abstract - methodology • Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm.

Methodology • Participants dictated letters either in isolated words or in consecutive word speech. They did this with simulations of listening typewriters that recognized either a limited vocabulary or an unlimited vocabulary.

Results • Results:What did you find out? • Include specific data that indicates theresults of the project. • Did we kill the monster or did it kill us? .

Results • Be specific: Conclude that something is faster, cheaper, smaller, or better than something else • Avoid general words such as "very", "small", or "significant." • Don’t mix with the methods section

Sample abstract - results • Significant differences in levels of belief in giftedness were also found among students who differed in their perceptions of the most important purpose for writing, with students who identified "to express your own feelings about something" as the most important purpose for writing having the highest mean level of belief in giftedness.”

Sample Abstract - Results • “The results showed that signals do improve a reader's comprehension, particularly comprehension two weeks after the reading of a passage and comprehension of subordinate and superordinate inferential information.”

Results indicated that some versions, even upon first using them, were at least as good as traditional methods of handwriting and dictating.

Implications • What do your results mean? • Who cares? • What changes should be implemented because of your research? • How does this research add to the knowledge on the topic? • How could you have done better defeating your monster? • What lessons can other heroes learn for fighting their monsters?

Implications • What are the implications of your answer? • Is it going to change the world? • Be a significant contribution? • Be a nice project? • Or warn other researchers that this area is a waste of time? • All of these are appropriate conclusions.

Implications (continued) Can mention “we” here in the discussion section. “We believe”“It is our opinion that…” • “They lived happily ever after”

Sample abstract - implications • “The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.”

Sample abstract - implications • “Although the validity of the notion that writing ability is a special gift is not directly addressed, the results suggest that belief in giftedness may have deleterious effects on student writers.”

Implications • Isolated word speech with large vocabularies may provide the basis for a useful listening typewriter.

Previous research on GPS calibration focused mainly on the methods of integrating costly auxiliary hardware, ignoring the user’s context information and basic demands.This paper presents an approach for calibrating GPS position by using the context awareness technique from Pervasive Computing. The paper proposes a novel approach, called Perceptive GPS (PGPS) to improve GPS positioning accuracy directly from the contextual information of received GPS data. To utilize the characteristics of GPS sequential and temporal data, PGPS starts by sampling received GPS data and builds a stable Transition Probability Matrix (TPM), based on a derived Newton Markov Model (NMM), to learn the carrier’s behavior.From the perceptive data of the stable TPM and online received GPS data, PGPS infers the behavior of the GPS carrier to verify the rationality of the GPS data and then interactively rectifies received GPS data online.Preliminary experimental results show the proposed approach effectively improves the accuracy of GPS positioning. • NCU class homework

Research reported by Daly, Miller, and their colleagues suggests that writing apprehension is related to a number of factors we do not yet fully understand. This study suggests that included among those factors should be the belief that writing ability is a gift. Giftedness, as it is referred to in the study, is roughly equivalent to the Romantic notion of original genius. Results from a survey of 247 postsecondary students enrolled in introductory writing courses at two institutions indicate that higher levels of belief in giftedness are correlated with higher levels of writing apprehension, lower self-assessments of writing ability, lower levels of confidence in achieving proficiency in certain writing activities and genres, and lower self-assessments of prior experience with writing instructors. Significant differences in levels of belief in giftedness were also found among students who differed in their perceptions of the most important purpose for writing, with students who identified "to express your own feelings about something" as the most important purpose for writing having the highest mean level of belief in giftedness.Although the validity of the notion that writing ability is a special gift is not directly addressed, the results suggest that belief in giftedness may have deleterious effects on student writers. • Palmquist, M., & Young, R. (1992). The Notion of Giftedness and Student Expectations About Writing. Written Communication, 9(1), 137-168.

The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe and Japan.The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals.The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes.Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm.This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes.The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.Luis Lehner, "Gravitational radiation from black hole spacetimes" Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 1998 DAI-B 59/06, p. 2797, Dec 1998

This study investigated the role of "signaling" in helping good readers comprehend expository text. As the existing literature on signaling, reviewed in the last issue of the Journal, pointed to deficiencies in previous studies' methodologies,one goal of this study was to refine prose research methods.Two passages were designed in one of eight signaled versions each. The design was constructed to assess the individual and combined effect of headings, previews, and logical connectives. The study also assessed the effect of passage length, familiarity and difficulty.The results showed that signals do improve a reader's comprehension, particularly comprehension two weeks after the reading of a passage and comprehension of subordinate and superordinate inferential information. This study supports the hypothesis that signals can influence retention of text-based information, particularly with long, unfamiliar, or difficult passages. • Ref. Houp & Pearsall, Reporting Technical Information, 7th edition, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992

How to write an abstract